The Municipal Administration and Waqf Minister, Qamarul Islam, who also holds the minority affairs portfolio, said that the State government proposes to bring in changes in the programme to extend financial assistance to the students belonging to the minority communities through “Arivu” programme from 2015-16 financial year.
Speaking after launching the awareness programme about Arivu in Kalaburagi on Sunday, Mr. Islam said that one of the proposed changes to be made was the reimbursement of the two per cent service charge taken from the beneficiaries who avail the assistance under the Arivu programme. The government has earmarked a sum of Rs 45 Crore for the purpose of reimbursing the 2 per cent service change.
Mr. Islam said that the scheme was meant to help the economically poor among the minorities and also utilise the assistance to help children with their education through the Karnataka Minority Development Corporation.
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He said that the corporation under the Arivu programme had extended financial assistance to the tune of Rs 7.08 crore to 2,135 students belonging to the religious minority communities to pursue the professional courses including engineering and medical courses in the state.
Mr. Islam said that during 2015-16, the corporation proposes to extend financial assistance to 230 post graduate students. The Development Corporation proposes to extend financial assistance to more than 5,000 students who wish to pursue the professional courses during 2015-16.
Referring to the hugely successful “Bidayi” scheme through which a sum of Rs 50,000 is provided as grant to meet the marriage expenditure of the girls belonging to the religious minority communities, Mr Islam said that during the current year the government has allotted a sum of Rs 77 Crore for the purpose of implementing “Bidayi” scheme and so far out of the total 12,000 applications seeking assistance under the Bidayi scheme, the government has extended financial assistance to 6000 applicants.
He assured that the state government would continue to implement the Bidayi scheme which has come as a saviour to many families who were finding it difficult to perform the marriages of their daughters. “The state government would continue this scheme and make it a permanent affair”.
Under the Arivu scheme, the corporation extended financial assistance ranging from Rs 5000 to Rs 50,000 per annum to the students pursuing the medical, dental, engineering, post graduate courses, diploma, nursing, B.Ed, BBM, BCA, D.Ed, ITI and others. The students appearing in the CET conducted by the KEA during 2015-16 can avail the financial assistance extended by the corporation to meet the fees of the professional courses.